Letting Go
by RheaxChan
Summary: The Lady Kikyou, watching InuYasha and Kagome make their feelings known, realizes something. She realizes something that has a sense of freedom washing over her whole spirit. And now, she is letting go. Do know that there is no character bashing.


**Letting Go**

**A Fan Fiction by KiKi RheaChan**

She stood there, eyes trained on a pair of people sitting at the waters edge._** What... is this feeling... ? **_The woman, dressed in her usual miko garb, tilted her head to the side. _**This is strange. I've never felt this before.**_ Her eyes continued to follow the pair now gently holding hands. _**What... are they saying? **_She moved stealthily and quickly to a closer spot to hear the exchange of words passing between the two.

The silver topped hanyou gently dropped his head as he held the beauty from the future. "Kagome..." he breathed. She, as nimbly as possible, moved his head so that he was looking her straight in the face.

"Don't hide from your feelings anymore, InuYasha." she whispered. Frustrated, he growled and stole away from her.

"I... Can't do this, Kagome." he reluctantly told her. She looked away in understanding.

"It's Kikyou, isn't it... ?" she asked, her tone as soft as the gentle lapping of the river tide.

"No! It's not that... Well, yeah. I mean, I don't want to break my promise to her. Don't you see? If I break my promise to her, she'll only believe what everyone's been telling her since she was born! She'll believe that she can't depend on anyone but herself." InuYasha quickly exclaimed. Kagome sat there, her hands tenderly folded on her lap.

"InuYasha, I understand what you are saying. Now understand me. I... I love you, InuYasha! I have since the time before Kikyou. And because I love you, I will do anything for you. If that means watching you die with Kikyou, like you promised, then I will let you go. If that's what it takes, I'm willing to give it. But only if you're willing to give me your heart like I've given you mine."

InuYasha looked at her, dumbfounded. "Kagome... ? Would you really do that for me?" he choked out, his ears straining to hear her whisper.

"InuYasha... I would do anything for you." His eyes softened considerably. "Kagome, I... I don't want to hide my feelings anymore. I need you to show me how..." he pleaded with her, his eyes threatened with tears. She rushed into his arms, placing her lips atop his in a loving manner. Slowly, his hands took in every curve of her body as he held her tightly against him. "Kagome..." he whispered.

The Lady Kikyou walked calmly from the view and sat upon a rock. "This.. Is different. Why do I not feel angry... ? Betrayed... ? Jealous even... ?" she asked herself in a whisper. Her features, illuminated by the full moon, gracefully turned into an expression of realization. A regal smile crept softly onto her lips. "I understand..." she breathed. Twigs broke, branches cracked, and the forest floor creaked. The Lady Kikyou calmly notched an arrow in her bow. "You there, show yourself!" she demanded roughly.

"Kikyou..." came the sudden reply from the silver inu hanyou. Her bow reclaimed it's place among her back.

"InuYasha." she acknowledged.

"It's time, isn't it?" he asked her, obviously inferring she knew what he was talking about. She nodded.

"Yes, it's time that I leave my place from this earth and take claim on my eternal slumber. What brings you here, InuYasha...?" she informed and then asked him. His eyes widened.

"You didn't forget... Did you?" he asked, bewilderment lacing each syllable of his words.

"The promise... ? No. I don't understand why you would willingly follow through with it when you have that girl, Kagome, waiting for you. I don't understand why you would think me so incapable of emotion that not even I could realize love when I see it." she told him, a bit colder than what she meant to.

"Kikyou..." he breathed. Lady Kikyou sighed.

"Forgive me, InuYasha. I hadn't meant to sound so harsh." she apologized. InuYasha moved closer to her.

"Kikyou, what's going on... ?" he wondered. The Lady Kikyou sat down.

"InuYasha, I am relieving you of your promise. I realize that our time is passed." she told him. A smile once again graced her lips. "Do you remember when we first proclaimed our love.. ?" she asked him, obviously reminiscing.

"How could I forget that?" InuYasha replied.

"I was so sure that you and I were in love. I felt it. I dreamed about it. I wished on it. I even lived for it. But, in the end, when our love was tested, it failed. We failed. InuYasha, I am not telling you that all that I told you, my feelings, were not true. They were true, as true as yours were, as true as Kagome's. I am telling you that we found more of a friend in each other instead of a lover. We understood each other, comforted each other, even encouraged each other. Looking back at it now I feel that it was more of a friendship than anything else. And I realized that our friendship was enough to make me the ordinary woman I so selfishly yearned to be. For that, I thank you, InuYasha." she explained to him, turning her back once she was finished.

"Kikyou, I... Don't understand." InuYasha confessed. The smile grew wider and more peaceful as she turned around._** I've never saw her smile like that, before**_ InuYasha thought to himself. "Kagome, please come out." The Lady Kikyou asked. Clumsily, Kagome stumbled from the bushes. She made her way to Kagome, a new respect for the girl had made its way into her heart. Daintily she grabbed Kagome's right hand. Walking with Kagome in hand, she made her way over to InuYasha. She grabbed his hand with hers. As gingerly as possible, she folded Kagome's hand in InuYasha's.

"InuYasha, this girl, this strong-hearted girl Kagome, is your present and your future. I am your past. I am everyone's past. Now it is time to let go of that past, just as I am letting go of you, my past." she whispered. She smiled when InuYasha held Kagome close to him. She turned and walked away. "InuYasha, if you do not take care of Kagome I will be seeing you." she threatened with a soft laugh, something she hadn't done in a long while.

_**Oh the joy of feeling free. The joy of the promise of an eternal sleep.**_ "InuYasha, I would like for you to spread my ashes in the river. I wish to never come back. I wish to flow with the changing tide, the tide free to make it's own direction." And with that she disappeared, not into Hell, but into her long awaited and deserved place among the Heavens.

And as she disappeared the world heard the word of the tragic miko that was letting go. _**"Sometimes, letting go is for the best. Letting go can be so addicting, so exhilarating.**__**And that is exactly what I am doing. I am letting go of my chains, of my limitations. I am letting go."  
**_

* * *

**A/N: **This is the first fan fiction, one-shot or otherwise, that I have been able to complete since writing my own original manga. I suppose I like working with my own characters better. Anyway, I really do like this fan fiction! I believe I caught Kikyou's personality perfectly, and oh how I wish this would have happened in the manga instead of the way that it did. I adore the ending quote, no stealing! I thought it up, myself. Comment, please? 


End file.
